Now that the reporting season for the MIPS in 2021 has come to an end, you may finally let out a sigh of relief. Now is the moment to shift your focus to the MIPS reporting for 2022 so that you don’t fall behind the rest of the pack. This year, the reporting process will be more difficult, and meeting the new standards will call for advanced planning. You can guarantee that you will be better prepared for a successful outcome by developing a reporting strategy right away.
Create a Robust Reporting Strategy for the MIPS Program.
When formulating a MIPS reporting strategy for your practice that is going to be successful, there are a lot of different factors you need to think about and take into account. In 2022, the performance of your MIPS program will still be judged using the same four criteria: quality, improvement activities (IA), promoting interoperability (PI), and cost. If you are qualified for the MIPS program or if you want to participate in reporting, the payment changes that apply to your Medicare reimbursement in 2024 for covered professional services will be in the range of -9% to +9%.
In order to keep the payment adjustment at its current level, CMS has raised the MIPS threshold for 2022 to 60 MIPS points.
It is still necessary to get a score of at least 85 MIPS points in order to qualify for an exceptional performance bonus. You will need to disclose data in more than one MIPS category in order to satisfy this newly imposed minimum requirement. If you have an EHR that was certified in 2015, you should give some thought to reporting not only in the Quality and IA categories but also in the PI category (EHR). There is no reporting requirement for the Cost category because CMS will determine the score based on the data from your Medicare claims.
Let’s take a look at how you may earn the most points possible in each category so that you can devise an efficient plan for reporting on your MIPS performance. If you look to outsource for MIPS then P3Care ‘s MIPS Services is the best option for 2022.
Quality
Because you have to select your measures and gather your data at various points throughout the year, the Quality category of MIPS requires the highest amount of manual labor. Despite the fact that its weight has been reduced to 40% of your total MIPS score in 2022 (from 45% in 2021), this category still has the most important of any of the MIPS subcategories.
According to the data completeness standards established by the CMS, the quality measures that you report in 2022 must have been reported on at least 70 per cent of eligible contacts during the whole calendar year (January through December). Just a friendly reminder, the data should include people who are not covered by Medicare as well. Measures that do not meet this data completeness standard will receive 0 points if you are part of a large practice (16 or more under the Tax Identification Number (TIN)), or 3 points if you are part of a small practice.
If you are part of a large practice, you must submit all of your patients’ Tax Identification Numbers (15 or fewer in the TIN). Any measures that have a very small eligible population (less than 20 eligible patients) will not meet the case minimum requirements and will only receive 3 points, regardless of whether the practice is small or large.
Take Care When Selecting Your Quality Metrics!
Your overall score for Quality will be determined by how well you execute each of the measures. It is essential to select at least six quality measures (including at least one outcome or high-priority measure), as well as a specialty measure set, that is tailored to your practice and specialization in the most effective manner. Since CMS will only rate your top six measures, choose ones that have the potential to get the highest scores based on published benchmarks. This will help ensure that you receive the greatest possible score.
Cost
In 2022, the Cost category will be valued at as much as 20% of your overall MIPS score, an increase from the 15% it was worth in 2021. Your Cost score will be automatically calculated by CMS based on administrative claims that have been submitted over the whole calendar year; therefore, you will not be required to report any data. However, in order to get a better understanding of your previous performance, you should look at your QPP Performance Feedback Reports.
Getting Ready for a Fruitful Reporting Experience Now
We are aware that reporting will be more difficult for many of our customers this year, which is why we recommend getting started as soon as possible with an effective MIPS reporting plan. If you are having trouble finding Quality measures that you can report or if you don’t know the best approach for collecting your data, schedule some time with one of our MIPS specialists to review your circumstances so that we can provide guidance to help you get started. If you are having trouble finding Quality measures that you can report, you can also check out our other resources on this topic.
After you have established a reporting plan, you may add it to your P3Care account by clicking the “Add MIPS Plans” button on the dashboard, and then you can start uploading your data. We will provide you with the resources necessary to monitor your progress throughout the year to ensure that you are on track to achieve the MIPS goals that you have set for yourself.
